‘I could have been electrocuted to death’: Woman’s lucky escape after lightning fries her bedroom

Joanne Emberson from Stoke-on-Trent, who was in bed with dog Jasper when her home was hit by lightning (Picture: NTI)

A mother-of-two had a lucky escape after lightning struck her home while she was in bed.

The bolt hit the TV aerial of Joanne Emberson’s home in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, blowing a hole in her roof and stripping the plaster from her bedroom wall.

The bolt stripped the plaster from her bedroom wall (Picture: NTI)

The room filled with thick black smoke and neighbours described seeing a ‘fireball’ above the house. Firefighters said it was a ‘miracle’ Joanne and her two daughters escaped unharmed, given the circumstances.

‘My bed is made of metal and if it had been touching the wall I could have been electrocuted to death,’ Joanne said.

‘I feel lucky to still be here.’

Joanna says she feels ‘lucky to still be here’ (Picture: NTI)

The blast was reportedly heard from two miles away. The lightning hit at around 8am on Saturday, during freak storms that swept over much of England this weekend.

Firefighter Andrew Adamson, from Staffordshire Fire department, said: ‘The amount of electricity in a lightning bolt causes extreme damage when it hits a property. It’s a miracle all the family escaped without injury.’

Her husband Gary was shopping at the time. He expects the cost of repairs to run into the tens of thousands.